Alena Arshinova


Alena Arshinova is a Russian politician, model and sociologist. She is a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

Biography

Aliona Arsinova was born in 1985 in Dresden since her father, a member of the Soviet Army, was stationed there.
Arshinova holds dual citizenship of Russia and Transnistria. From 2002 to 2007 she studied sociology at the state university of Transnistria, the T.G. Shevchenko University in Tiraspol.
Arshinova led the political youth organization Breakthrough which defends the independence of Transnistria with close ties to Russia, and opposes union with Moldova. She has written articles for the Transnistrian news agency «Lenta PMR». In December 2005 Arshinova was interviewed by the German news magazine Der Spiegel. In 2009 she was a fellow of the John Smith Memorial Trust programme for democracy and good governance.
In 2007, Alena Arshinova moved to Moscow for postgraduate work in sociology at Lomonosov University. Her dissertation is entitled "Youth Extremism in Russia". She has become involved in Russian politics. On 22 December 2010, Arshinova was elected as co-chairman of the co-ordinating council of the Young Guard of United Russia, the youth wing of Russia's ruling party. For the 2011 Russian legislative election, she contested a seat in the State Duma.
Her hobbies are music, dance, and yoga. She is vegetarian and has a sister, Alexandra.